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107 years ago today

This photo shows “Auntie Harriet”, my grandmother’s younger sister. I am dating it as early 1930s as the bottom half of the photo (cropped off here) shows two small girls who were born in 1930 and 1931. Since the caption written on the back by my granny tells me it was taken “at our Harriet’s door” I am assuming it to be taken at The Drift (Chevington Drift). Note the tin bath hanging on the outside wall – used for baths in front of the fire in pit houses.

My great-aunt Harriet Anne Henderson was born 28 Apr 1905 at Amble in Northumberland. Her parents were Archibald (Archie) Henderson and Margaret Jane Thornton. She married twice, first to John Rutter in 1928, then to Thomas (Tommy) Lindsley in 1977. My mother was very close to her Auntie Harriet who used to visit us regularly and bring her granddaughter to play with me. We alternated between them coming to see us in Amble and us going to see them at the Drift or later in Ferneybeds.

The Christian name Harriet recurs frequently among my Henderson relatives and seems to have been passed down from my 3x great-grandmother Harriet Miller Newton, born in Cullercoats in 1814.